Gove tries to hasten the demise of GCSEs

Richard Garner

Richard Garner has been Education Editor of The Independent for 12 years and writing about the subject for 34 years. Before becoming a journalist, he worked as a disc jockey in London pubs and clubs and for a hospital radio station. His main hobbies are cricket (watching these days) and theatre. On his days off, he is most likelt to be found at Lord’s or the King’s Head Theatre Club.

The Education Secretary Michael Gove is urging all state schools to consider ditching GCSEs for the more traditional IGCSEs in advance of the introduction of his new English Baccalaureate in three years' time.

Mr Gove said he would encourage all schools to look at whether
the rival exam would be an "appropriate preparation" for his new
qualification.

The past few years have seen a massive growth in the IGCSE –
which is designed on traditional O-level lines with the emphasis on
end-of-course examinations, as will be the case with the EBacc
which will be introduced from 2015.

Take-up by UK schools in the past two years has more than
doubled, with 900 (400 state and 500 independent) now choosing it
compared with just 399 (97 state and 302) in 2010.

But Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of
Teachers, said: "Schools want stability and confidence in the
examination system so will not want to swap and change courses on
such a short-term basis."

Opposition to Mr Gove's EBaccs grew yesterday, with the British
Dyslexia Association warning they would have an adverse impact on
dyslexic students.

* More than 2,000 Welsh candidates have been awarded improved
GCSE grades in English as a result of a review of their exams.

In all, 1,202 students with D grades now have a C and 598 with C
grades have been given a B. The Welsh Assembly ordered the WJEC to
regrade the papers of Welsh students. The Welsh Education minister
described the decision as "the swift resolution of an
injustice".